This invention relates to a method for producing an image of an object, storing, transmitting and processing the same.
Image means any entity that represents an object exactly, or more or less approximately. The image is the reproduction of a picture. "Intermediate image" means an image that is produced for the purpose of transforming it later into a different image of the same object. When such a transformation occurs, the image finally produced will be called hereinafter "the final image". An image which is to be processed in any way elaborated to produce another image of the same nature, will be called a "temporary image", which, if the processing is a correction or adjustment, is an "unadjusted image".
In a great many technical processes, an image of an object must be produced, and quite often must be stored, transmitted or processed. For instance, it is a common occurrence that two-dimensional figures or pictures be represented by digital data which are stored, processed and transmitted, according to needs. This occurs in word processing by computers, message transmission by telefax, etc.
It is obviously desirable to reduce as much as possible the amount of data defining the image which represents a given object, without distorting the image to the extent that it might cease to represent the corresponding object with an acceptable degree of accuracy. Such a reduction of the required data, or "data compression" or "image compression", as it is sometimes called, serves to simplify, reduce and render more economical the equipment required for the storage of an image, its processing and transmission. For instance, it is well known that in modern technology, transmission lines, including frequency bands available for radio transmission, are increasingly overcrowded, and every effort is being made to exploit them as fully as possible, one of the means for so exploiting them being to reduce the amount of data that are sent through a given transmission line in order to convey a given amount of information.
It is a general purpose of this invention to provide a method for producing the image of an object, storing it, processing and transmitting it, while minimizing the amount of data that are required for carrying out the said operations.
More specific objects of the invention and specific applications thereof, will become apparent as the description proceeds.